The Ad Campaign

Golisano Cites an Old Scandal

By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD

Published: October 22, 2002

Tom Golisano, the Independence candidate for governor, began broadcasting this 30-second advertisement statewide yesterday, in keeping with his latest line of attack against Gov. George E. Pataki. Both Mr. Golisano and H. Carl McCall sought to make an issue of a fund-raising scandal centered on Mr. Pataki's first run for governor, in 1994.

PRODUCER Erick Mullen

ON THE SCREEN Somber pictures of Mr. Pataki and of newspaper headlines and court documents.

THE SCRIPT Announcer: "George Pataki wants to talk about his record on crime, but his administration got caught selling paroles for campaign contributions to an armed robber and a major drug kingpin. The federal prosecutor called it the biggest fund-raising scandal that this state has seen in a long time. Pataki's parole board chairman was named as an unindicted co-conspirator, but he's still on the job. George Pataki, it's about the money."

ACCURACY Saying Mr. Pataki's administration "got caught selling paroles" stretches the truth. Three State Parole Board officials and a Pataki fund-raiser were convicted in 2000 in connection with a federal investigation into offers of parole in exchange for campaign contributions. Nobody was convicted of selling paroles, however. The three board officials were convicted of lying to investigators, and the fund-raiser, Yung Soo Yoo, was convicted of obstruction of justice, but a jury deadlocked on the charge of whether he had promised paroles for contributions. Mr. Yoo had given $15,000 to the Pataki campaign in 1994 and raised more money from others. Mr. Yoo approached three families before the 1994 election and said he could help get their sons — convicted of crimes like armed robbery and attempted murder — out of jail if they contributed to Mr. Pataki's campaign. One man was released on parole two years after his family donated. The Pataki campaign returned Mr. Yoo's contributions when questions arose about his actions. Prosecutors, suggesting that the case was broader than Mr. Yoo, named Brion Travis, the parole board chairman, an unindicted co-conspirator. Yesterday, Mr. Pataki called the allegations against Mr. Travis untrue.

SCORECARD The Golisano campaign also unleashed a stream of negative ads against the governor before the primaries. With two weeks left before Election Day, when Mr. Galisano's aides believe that voters are starting to pay more attention to the race, he is trying to taint Mr. Pataki, who is leading both Mr. Golisano and Mr. McCall by comfortable margins. This ad, coupled with new negative ads by Mr. McCall, may take some of the luster off the governor.